ADVrider.com
Disclosure: Author lives in Oregon and has ridden parts of the BDR route.
Adventure riders from all over the Northwest gathered in a classic Portland, Oregon venue on a damp and cold Saturday night to celebrate the official unveiling of the latest addition to the Backcountry Discovery Routes roster. After years of effort, planning, and waiting, the RideBDR team took the wraps off of the official Oregon BDR routes with a documentary screening and Q&A with some of the team members. Official maps and GPS traces are now available from RideBDR.com. For analog types, Butler Maps now offers a foldable map of the route in their BDR collection.
It was a full house at the Aladdin Theater in Portland for the debut of the ORBDR documentary. Photo by Bill Roberson
Over 500 people packed into the Aladdin Theater in southeast Portland to watch the 75-minute documentary about traversing the entire route for the first time during the summer of 2022. Route manager Nathan Fant, rider Ashley Myhre of Mosko Moto, BMW Rider Academy instructor Ricardo Rodriguez and others were on hand after the documentary to answer questions about their Oregon BDR experience (consensus: challenging, beautiful, mostly awesome). Organizers also raffled off some door prizes to attendees.
Mosko Moto, headquartered fairly near Portland in White Salmon, Washington, is one of the primary sponsors of the Oregon BDR effort, along with BMW, which is celebrating 100 years of motorcycle production this year. Gaia GPS and numerous other ADV accessory makers also contributed. The team rode a mix of bikes including KTMs, BMWs, Yamahas, Hondas and perhaps for the first time, the Harley-Davidson Pan America.
Southeast Oregon farmland brings a palette of color to the high desert. Image: RideBDR via YouTube
The 750-mile route is made up of seven stages that traverse the state in a largely north-south path that takes riders through much of Oregon’s varied geography, from rocky and sandy trails through the untamed and largely unpopulated high desert along the edge of the Great Basin in southeast Oregon, to challenging paths threading through towering woodlands and snow-capped volcanoes along the spine of the high Cascades to the north. Copious use of drone footage by expert pilot and rider Cameron Sale in the documentary made the hazards—and rewards—of the Oregon BDR route very apparent.
Southern Oregon abuts the Great Basin, and it’s one of the most desolate, unpopulated areas on Earth. Image: RideBDR via YouTube
Take it from a local, riding in Oregon’s wide-open southeast section is often challenging and far from any help should things go badly, but the desolation is also a big draw; Washington-based rider Ashley Myhre said she returns often to the southeast part of Oregon, where she says it can feel like “riding on another planet.” However, riders can expect many miles rough terrain, with riding over both sharp and rounded rocks, through wheel ruts filled with sand and in some spots, several inches of talcum-like silt the team called “poof.”
A close call in some deep silt, or ‘poof’ as the team called it. Image: RideBDR via YouTube
The also had to leave a lot of room between group members to avoid riding in the thick, vision-obscuring dust plumes common on the route. On the northern legs, many routes have rocks of various sizes, downed trees or unpredictable red basalt (top photo) road surfaces, and more pockets of sand and silt. The team suffered four flats on the ride, and a few minor tipovers as well. No one was injured and all the bikes involved finished the route.
Some alpine passages can get a bit tight with foliage. Image: RideBDR via YouTube
And because it’s Oregon/PNW, riders should be prepared for rain – or even snow at the highest elevations – at most any time of year, although July through September are typically dry and warm (and also hot in the desert Southeast sections). Some northern stretches of the Oregon BDR will likely be closed October through May depending on the winter snowpack, while temperatures in the high desert stretches can sink below freezing at night even in summer months, and then rise to triple digits during summer days.
Some expert loops grant a multiple-mountain view. Image: RideBDR via YouTube
Along the route, riders have three “expert” level loop options that lead to the top of buttes or vantage points that will test the skills of even the most experienced off-road rider. However, the route in the most northern part of the state includes a fair amount of (still very scenic) highway miles as many of the previously considered back road routes have been closed due to the ravages of recent major wildfires. One popular spot, the small town of Detroit on the shores of Detroit Lake, was nearly erased by the fires two years ago, and is slowly rebuilding. Route planners say that as areas recover and routes reopen, the maps will be updated to include them.
Ridge riding along basalt massifs in the high desert is beautiful – and dangerous in places. Image: RideBDR via YouTube
The team passed through numerous tiny Oregon communities like Sisters, Detroit and Plush that stand to benefit from BDR riders getting gas, food and supplies. The team also had opportunities to learn more about another group of adventurers: pioneers who came to the state along the Oregon Trail in the late 1800s, often enduring – or succumbing to – harsh conditions while guiding heavy wagons through mountain passes and inhospitable terrain, much of which is exactly the same now as it was then, including wilderness hot springs, alpine lakes, and the towering (usually) dormant volcanoes unique to this part of the U.S. In places, the wood and metal-shorn wheels of the pioneer wagon trains have worn grooves into the land that persist today.
Snowmelt can leave deep water ponds on roads through the summer. Image: RideBDR via YouTube
The Oregon BDR map includes a number of layer options including snow cover (which limited access to some parts of the route for the team), wildfire locations, wildfire smoke plume tracking, X-Route loops (none in Oregon quite yet), and a new entry: charging locations for those brave enough to take on the BDR on an electric bike, such as the Zero DSRX or Energica Experia. Since most of the route legs are under 100 miles and require little highway travel, it’s feasible for those bikes to complete a leg without a charging stop (stay tuned for a possible future ADVrider.com investigation).
The team celebrates after 10 days of riding the route south to north. Image: RideBDR via YouTube
For those looking for a longer adventure, the Oregon BDR’s northern border is close to the southern end of the Washington BDR. The southern end of the Oregon BDR ends at Denio Junction, Nevada. Very adventurous riders may be able to find passage east to connect to the Idaho and California BDRs, but the route will have to traverse a literal no-man’s land through the Great Basin, with little or no services along the way. Bring your satellite phone. At the screening, BDR members said possible future additions to routes would hopefully create a linked route spanning the western U.S. and also connect with routes in Canada and Mexico.
RideBDR has documented the creation of each route, and the videos are now available for free on their YouTube channel – except for the new Oregon entry, which ADVrider was told will go on tour worldwide before posting up online later this spring.
Here’s the trailer for the Oregon documentary, which organizers called “their best yet.”
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